Related papers: Phase transitions in biological membranes
Biological cell suspensions are known to show dielectric dispersions due to the Maxwell-Wagner mechanism. Many examples are summarized in a number of papers by Schwan [7, 9, 10]. By the application of an appropriate analysis to the…
We study the stress distribution profiles and the height and thickness fluctuations of lipid membranes in the tilted gel state by Monte Carlo simulations of a generic coarse-grained model for lipid membranes, which reproduces many known…
Eukaryotic cell motility is crucial during development, wound healing, the immune response, and cancer metastasis. Some eukaryotic cells can swim, but cells more commonly adhere to and crawl along the extracellular matrix. We study the…
A general phase-plot is proposed for discrete particle shells that allows for thermal fluctuations of the shell geometry and of the inter-particle connectivities. The phase plot contains a first-order melting transition, a buckling…
The thermodynamic properties for three different types of off-lattice four-strand beta-sheet protein models interacting via a hybrid Go-type potential have been investigated. Discontinuous molecular dynamic simulations have been performed…
Thermalized elastic membranes without distant self-avoidance are believed to undergo a crumpling transition when the microscopic bending stiffness is comparable to $kT$, the scale of thermal fluctuations. Most potential physical…
Experiments and theory have shown that cell monolayers and epithelial tissues exhibit solid-liquid and glass-liquid transitions. These transitions are biologically relevant to our understanding of embryonic development, wound healing, and…
Early recordings of nervous conduction revealed a notable thermal signature associated with the electrical signal. The observed production and subsequent absorption of heat arise from physicochemical processes that occur at the cell…
Thermal fluctuations strongly modify the large length-scale elastic behavior of crosslinked membranes, giving rise to scale-dependent elastic moduli. While thermal effects in flat membranes are well understood, many natural and artificial…
Motivated by recent experiments on biomimetic membranes exposed to several aqueous phases, we theoretically study the morphology of a membrane in contact with a liquid droplet formed via aqueous phase separation. We concentrate on membranes…
Computer simulations of coarse-grained molecular models for amphiphilic systems can provide insight into the the structure of amphiphiles at interfaces. They can help to identify the factors that determine the phase behavior, and they can…
We investigate proteins within heterogeneous cell membranes where non-equilibrium phenomena arises from spatial variations in concentration and temperature. We develop simulation methods building on non-equilibrium statistical mechanics to…
Membranes are present in all cells and tissues. Mathematical models of cells and tissues need a compact mathematical description of membranes with a resolution of about 1 nm. Membranes isolate cells because ions have difficulty penetrating…
We propose a minimal model for miscibility phase transitions (MPTs) in a class of asymmetric two-component heterogeneous fluid membranes at equilibrium that generically display both first and second order MPTs, controlled by the interplay…
The lateral diffusion of lipids within membrane is of paramount importance, serving as a central mechanism in numerous physiological processes including cell signaling, membrane trafficking, protein activity regulation, and energy…
Statistical physics can describe the behavior of microbial populations consisting of many heterogeneous individuals. A direct consequence is the existence of phase transitions, where the behavior of a population changes discontinuously upon…
Recently is was discovered in various applications that many physical and chemical properties of water change their temperature dependence between about 35 and 60 degrees Celsius. In particular, heat conductance, light absorption, and…
Viscosity is a key property of cell membranes that controls mobility of embedded proteins and membrane remodeling. Measuring it is challenging because existing approaches involve complex experimental designs and/or models, and the…
Gas transport across cell membrane is a very important process in biochemistry which is essential for many crucial tasks, including cell respiration pH regulation in the cell. In the late 1990's, the suggestion that gasses are transported…
We study non-equilibrium analogues of surface phase transitions in a minimal model of active particles in contact with a purely repulsive potential barrier that mimics a thin porous membrane. Under conditions of bulk motility-induced phase…